So, you’ve set you mind on Argentinian Spanish. You’ve been taken by this peculiar mix of Spanish and Italian, and now you would like to understand exactly how to make your Spanish more Argentinian.
Is that you?
Well, my dear Watson, the answer is very simple: listen (and if possible speak) to natives as much as possible. Get obsessed, imitate and repeat, even when you are not totally sure what people are saying. Find pleasure in mirroring the intonation, stress and rhythm of natural speech.
I’m sorry! Contrary to the expectations that might have brought you here, there is no recipe for authentically speaking Argentinian Spanish other than this.
Well, hold on, as we’ve covered in other posts, there are a few things you can apply right now:
Three quick tweaks can help you sound more Argentinian instantly:
Turning all /y/ and /ll/ into sounds of ‘sh’.
Read these words out loud and concentrate on getting an even /sh/ sound for all of them:
- ya – allá – llamar – yang – callar – pantalla – playa – silla – cebolla – cosquillas
- yen – ayer – calle – Ayelén – llegar
- ying
- yo – yoga – yogur – tuyo – uruguayo – coyote – amarillo – Nueva York – mayonesa
- lluvia – yuyo – Yucatán
Nonsensical poetry you can apply to your practice:
- El yogur uruguayo me hace cosquillas.
- Hay mucha mayonesa en las calles de Nueva York.
- Ayelen, la uruguaya, hace clases de yoga con lluvia.
- Ayer llegué a Yucatán y un coyoté huyó.
- El amarillo es tuyo? Está en la silla
- Ya no hay sillas. Hay que pelar cebollas.
Conjugate verbs in the present using VOS forms
All you have to do is drop -AR, -ER, -IR from the infinitive form and add -ÁS, -ÉS, -ÍS
- ¿Cómo te llamás?
- ¿Cuántos años tenés?
- ¿Dónde vivís?
In the present, VOS forms have no irregular forms, except for the verb SER (which turns into SOS, not ERES).
- ¿De dónde sos?
Come HERE to learn more about VOS forms
Use the right words
You’ll want to adjust your vocabulary. Remember that there are NOUNS, VERBS and ADJECTIVES that we use in Argentina and not everywhere else.
Well, this is the furthest we can go without actual interaction, but you can find some useful material in the resources section.
And also, we can team up and meet for a lesson!
Happy Spanish learning,
You might also want to read these articles:
- An interesting take on VOSEOTake a look at this voseo map that represents where in the American content VOS carries a social meaning.
- Bienvenido, BienvenidaWhat is a blog if not a humble space of communion? Come in, my sister, my brother.
- Lessons learned from “I taught an octopus play piano”The internet is beautiful. Some people take crazy ideas to action… and surprise everyone else with the outcome.
- Learn Argentinian Spanish like you shouldIf you really want to master Argentinian Spanish, let me set up your learning path for success.
- Malas PalabrasAn overview of how AI handled the transcript of one of my YouTube videos.
- Bancar and AguantarDo you know the difference between these two verbs? Then you’d better read this post!